The end to cold stabilisation!

Enartis Press Release - 24 Nov 2017

The Italian multinational hits a milestone in environmental sustainability with a new product that puts an end to cold stabilisation. The product can save wineries up to 80% of energy and drinking water, and reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 90%, an important factor in the drought stricken wine producing areas of the Western Cape.

'Cape Town', new Wine of Origin District

Holly Motion - 12 Jun 2017

South African wine is on track to attract greater international attention after a ‘ground-breaking’ move by the South African Wine and Spirit Board. A Wine of Origin District named after Cape Town, has been approved and those in the know think it’ll elevate the profile of South African wine.

The worst drought in a century in the Western Cape has led to a large field of ‘ghost vines’ reappearing as the dam water that once covered them recedes.

SA making strides in leafroll virus management

Bizcommunity - 19 May 2017

Through focused research, trial sites and a formalised Leafroll Control Protocol, the South African wine industry has made great strides to halt the spread of leafroll virus which poses a major threat to wine grape producers as it can shorten the lifespan of vineyards and deteriorate grape and wine quality.

Vintners are reporting widespread damage in Bordeaux, Burgundy and Champagne, with some losing their entire 2017 crop.

California's vineyards are coming back from the brink of disaster thanks to the winter rains

Patrick Comiskey - 05 Apr 2017

California’s vineyards — Central Coast vineyards in particular — are coming back from the brink of disaster. Record low rainfall levels, coupled with record average temperatures in an age of global warming, had left viticulture from Monterey to Ventura in a low-grade peril. The five-year drought had been so inexorable in its effects, so disruptive to seasonal cycles, that growers were having a hard time imagining what a return to normal would look like.

Is Snow Good For Vines?

Institute for Grape and Wine Sciences celebrates successes of its first five years

Engela Duvenhage - 09 Feb 2017

To celebrate the IGWS’s fifth anniversary, important role players in the local wine and viticulture industries recently gathered on the wine estate L’Omarins of business leader and Stellenbosch University (SU) chancellor Dr Johann Rupert. The host of the evening, Dr Johann Rupert, and other industry leaders were among the driving forces behind the IGWS’s establishment. These are some of the success stories of Stellenbosch University’s Institute for Grape and Wine Sciences (IGWS). It was founded in 2013 thanks to funding received from the Reinet Foundation, VinPro and Sanlam.

New book: Understanding Wine Chemistry

John Wiley & Sons - 15 Sep 2016

A new book, Understanding Wine Chemistry, is the result of an international collaboration of faculty from three of the best-known wine programs in the English-speaking world. Dr David Jeffery (the University of Adelaide) and fellow authors, Professor Andrew Waterhouse (University of California Davis) and Associate Professor Gavin Sacks (Cornell University), announced their book at an August 21 release event sponsored by the publisher, John Wiley & Sons, at the 252nd American Chemical Society Meeting in Philadelphia.

Happy 80th anniversary to 75 French appellations

IGWS launches a robotics flagship project

IGWS Viticulture Platform - 01 Jun 2016

The Viticulture platform of the Institute for Grape and Wine Science (IGWS) launched an ambitious robotics project with the first demonstration of a vineyard robot prototype. The remote controlled Robot X (also known as “The Dassie”) was introduced to a group of viticulturists in a vineyard used for training at the Stellenbosch University (SU) experimental farm, Welgevallen.

'Catastrophic' hail in Chablis, Cognac and Beaujolais

Yohan Castaing - 01 Jun 2016

Fierce hailstorms have damaged vineyards in parts of Chablis in Burgundy, plus Beaujolais and Cognac, leading the country's farming federation to declare a 'state of catastrophe' in the worst-hit areas.

Millennial US winemakers have established what they call the first commercially viable rooftop vineyard in New York, hoping wine harvested from the Brooklyn Naval Yard will hit the market next year.

CHALLENGING SEASON BRINGS SMALLER WINE GRAPE CROP

VinPro press release: 10 May 2016 - 10 May 2016

Challenging conditions led to a reduced wine grape crop for South African producers in 2016, but grapes were healthy and concentrated flavours promise good wines. This according to the viticultural consultants of VinPro, the representative organisation for close to 3500 South African wine producers and cellars.

MARLI LOUW IN FAMELAB TOP 10!

- 28 Apr 2016

Marli Louw, a PhD student at the Dept. of Viticulture and Oenology has entered the FameLab competition and was selected as one of the top 10 Finalists for the FameLab South Africa. Marli will present her talk on the 4th May at the Cape Town International Convention Centre.

FameLab is an international competition which aims to nurture engagement between science and society by creating spaces for young people to find their voices and talk about their science, technology, engineering and mathematics. The project started in 2005 at the Cheltenham Science Festival in the United Kingdom and quickly became an international initiative, currently present in 26 countries worldwide thanks to a partnership with the British Council. FameLab is designed to inspire and motivate people working in science and technology to play an active role in communicating their fields to the public through the medium of a talk given before an audience in 3min. The British Council and local implementing partner Jive Media Africa are running FameLab in South Africa in partnership with the South African Agency for Science & Technology Advancement (SAASTA), a business unit of the National Research Foundation.

The semi-finals videos was uploaded to the SAASTA website (and also YouTube). There is a voting poll on the website and we were hoping for your everyone's support and votes.

SA NEUROSCIENTISTS LAUNCH WORLD'S FIRST NEUROWINE

www.themediaonline.co.za - 22 Apr 2016

A South African team of neuromarketers and neuroscientists have announced the launch of the world’s first ever NeuroWine, a wine that was developed by taking the tools and technologies that are traditionally used in neuroscience and applying them to the art of wine-making.

The Basket Press - August 2015

Karien O'Kennedy - 05 Apr 2016

Welcome to the first addition of The Basket Press Newspaper! This first addition comes available to you electronically as well as in print, because we respect the traditionalists amongst you. Dedicated to wine science communication we aim to bring you the latest news on the academic front in bite size, easy to understand and last but not the least, in an entertaining and pleasing on the eye format. We hope you enjoy it!

Stellenbosch University Oenology lecturer recognised for excellence in teaching

Marianne McKay, who teaches Oenology at Stellenbosch University (SU), has been recognised for her engaged teaching strategies. This lecturer, who works in the Department of Viticulture and Oenology (DVO), is to receive the 2015 National Excellence in Teaching Award. It is awarded annually by the Council for Higher Education (CHE) and the Higher Education Learning and Teaching Association of Southern Africa (HELTASA) in recognition of excellent teaching at South African universities.

STELLENBOSCH - Dr Evodia Setati and her team at the Institute for Wine Biotechnology, Stellenbosch University, have found distinct differences in the diversity of yeast populations in three neighbouring Cabernet Sauvignon vineyards cultivated using different agronomic practices. The researchers found that some of these yeast species may occur in relatively large populations during fermentation and may consequently make a significant contribution to the wine’s eventual sensorial quality.

Dry season might result in smaller wine grape harvest

VinPro - 05 Apr 2016

The South African wine industry can expect a smaller wine grape harvest in 2016, should the dry seasonal conditions persist in November. This is the message from the regional viticulturists of VinPro, the representative organisation for some 3 500 wine producers and cellars.

Scientists make a chance discovery in frost grape vines

by Steve Tarter in Journal Star - 03 Feb 2016

A chance discovery of gum oozing out of a vine found all around central Illinois by USDA Ag Lab scientists has led to to what may be a new source for a thickening agent that is used in all manner of foods and cosmetics.

January 2016 Newsletter

Potassium polyaspartate - a new tool for tartrate stabilisation

Gianni Triulzi - 08 Dec 2015

Potassium POLYASPARTATE is a new additive overcoming all the technical limits of present tartrate stabilisation alternatives and joining to these positive characteristics an excellent level of economic and environmental sustainability. It is a stable polymer of L-aspartic acid, able to totally inhibit the formation of tartrate crystals even in highly unstable wines, without color loses and without effect on wine filterability.

H2S and mercaptans: New discoveries

Oenoppia press release on infowine.com - 26 Nov 2015

Researchers have demonstrated for the first time that H2S and mercaptans in wine are not only present in volatile (odorous) form. They also exist in odourless complexes (with other other molecules) and are hence undetectable. Wine contains many sulphur compounds that may be released throughout its life span in bottles since these combinations are reversible.

New grapevine virus detected in California

by Ted Rieger in Winebusiness.com - 17 Nov 2015

A grapevine virus formally recognized in 2012 by Italian researchers as grapevine Pinot Gris virus (GPGV) and associated with disease symptoms in Pinot Gris/Grigio in Italy since 2003, was recently detected in California grapevines in Napa Valley.

App to help manage grapevines

http://phys.org/news/2015-10-app-grapevines.html - 26 Oct 2015

A new, free phone app developed by University of Adelaide researchers will help grapegrowers and viticulturists manage their vines by giving a quick measure of vine canopy size and density. The iPad and iPhone app uses the devices' camera and GPS capability to calculate the size and density of the vine canopy and its location in the vineyard. The aim is to help users monitor their vines and manage the required balance between vegetative growth and fruit production.

The development of the app – called VitiCanopy – has been supported by Wine Australia as part of a wider project investigating the relationships between vine balance and wine quality.

The great Brettanomyces taste test

by Robert Joseph - 16 Oct 2015

What would the result be if Brett-spiked wines were given to an international panel of experienced palates? "The largest segment of the 214 attendees chose the most heavily spiked wine, with almost as many picking the ‘threshold’ version."

Why it’s difficult to sell wine in China (part I)

LI Demei - Decanter - 14 Oct 2015

Why it’s difficult to sell wine in China (part I). "However, the actual sales of wine are not in proportion to the amount of exposure it gets. It seems everyone is talking about wine, but in fact wines are not selling as well as you would expect."

New study strengthens case against soil-based minerality

by Darren Smith in the Drinks business - 14 Oct 2015

A new study has provided further evidence that the perception of minerality in wine is not linked to soil. The findings emerged from the second part of a two-year research project, titled ‘Minerality in Wines‘, conducted by Spanish wine analysis company Excell Ibérica and Outlook Wine.

Climate change threatens European wine production

The EU is the world's biggest wine producer, but a recent publication has revealed the extent to which the sector is under threat from climate change. EurActiv France reports.

The harvest is already over for many Beaujolais wine makers. Early harvests have also taken producers in many other French regions by surprise. Some wine makers were concerned by the unusually hot summer, but the resulting high sugar content in this year's grapes, which guarantees a high level of alcohol in the finished product, is seen by many as a good thing. But the authors of the book Threats to wine. The challenges of climate change, Valery Laramée de Tannenberg and Yves Leers, fear the celebrations could be short lived.

Bordeaux winemaker death inquiry to focus on pesticides

Jane Anson - Decanter - 18 Jul 2015

A potentially groundbreaking criminal investigation is set to be launched in France over claims that the death of a Bordeaux winemaker was caused by exposure to pesticides. The first steps towards a criminal prosecution came after Valerie Murat filed legal action over the the death of her father, claiming ‘involuntary homicide’. James-Bernard Murat, a winemaker in Pujols in the Entre deux Mers region of Bordeaux, died of lung cancer in 2012. He believed the disease was caused by his use of a pesticide to protect against vine trunk disease esca for more than 40 years.

Little Fly, Big Problem for Wine

Neville Galvin - 17 Mar 2015

Last year was difficult enough for vintners in many of Europe's leading wine regions, thanks to a gray, wet summer that slowed grape ripening and encouraged mildew. But they also had to grapple with a new pest during the 2014 harvest: a foreign fruit fly. Drosophila suzukii, commonly known as the spotted wing drosophila, was first spotted in Europe in 2008. And last year's weather encouraged a population swell that left grapegrowers wrestling with an unfamiliar pest. They're worried this year could bring more flies—and trouble.